"When The Arts recently assembled a beginner's guide to building a classical-record collection, we promised a second listing of desert-island choices. "Choose as you wish," the writers were told, "but don't compare notes." Ah, temptation.) Most of these recordings are desert-island disks that I turn to time after time, even though (or maybe because) some of the works and performances have a quirky twist to them. For instance, Couperin, Wolf, Skalkottas, Wolpe and Webern will never make anyone's list of the world's most popular composers, and Eduardo Del Pueyo is a nearly forgotten pianist."

Larry Kart: "But finding music that fits your own emotional fingerprint is half the fun. I wish there weren't so many out-of-print recordings here, but treasures still can be found in stores that specialize in used records. If you run across good copies of Del Pueyo's "Hammerklavier" or De Nobel's "Les Noces," let me know. Mine have been played so much that the grooves are almost fused."